All posts tagged chocolate

Normally I don’t watch the ‘One Show’. In my house it’s commonly referred to as the ‘Nothing On Show’. But this evening there was a piece about ‘clandestine cake clubs‘ springing up all over Britain, and I was most intrigued. I love the idea that a date and time is given out over the internet, and anyone who wants to can turn up, on the condition that they bring a cake. A bit like dogging, perhaps, but for people who like to eat cake instead of each other – and of course, dogging would never make it onto Prime Time BBC television, yah*.

The CCC however, are rather discriminating. No tarts, brownies, or cookies for these ladies (I suspect they are mostly ladies). Even the frosted cupcakes popularised by the Magnolia Bakery in Sex and the City are banned. And I can see their point: I rarely eat a cupcake that isn’t a let-down. Too much sickly buttercream, too vanilla, even for the CCC who clearly prefer a bit of subversive chocolate (why else would it be a clandestine cake club?)

The delightful morsels I made yesterday break all the rules. They are dainty enough to be served with an espresso after dinner, and not a swirl of buttercream in sight. Instead, a lashing (the Famous Five kind, or the S&M kind? You decide!) of dark bitter chocolate ganache drips seductively over a mound of sinful chocolate sponge.

Here’s how to make them. I’ve adapted the cupcake recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery chocolate cupcake recipe, and doubled the quantities because why would anyone make just 12 of these babies? Make 24, take some to work, and you’ll have your colleagues eating out of the palm of your hand.

200g plain flour

40g cocoa powder

280g caster sugar

two pinches of salt

80g unsalted butter, at room temperature (stick it in the microwave for 20 seconds if you get it out of the fridge)

Whirr all the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, sugar, salt, baking powder) plus butter together in a large bowl using a hand-held electric mixer, until it’s the consistency of sand and all buttery lumps have disappeared. Then whisk the eggs, milk and vanilla together, and add this slowly to the sandy mixture, whirring on a slow setting at first before adding more liquid and upping the speed.

When it’s all combined spoon it into paper cupcake cases and bake in the oven for about 20 – 25 minutes. When I used this recipe it made 36 cupcakes.

Glossy Chocolate Ganache

The chocolate ganache is incredibly glossy. I adapted it from Nigella Lawson’s ‘How to be a Domestic Goddess‘. Now there is a woman who can make a cake sexy!

All you need is:

150ml double cream

1tsp vanilla extract

1 teaspoon unsalted butter

150g dark chocolate (good quality makes a big difference)

All you have to do is put everything in a non-stick saucepan and heat gently until the chocolate is melted. Keep stirring to make the mixture glossy! Turn up the heat slightly, still stirring, and bring the mixture to the boil. Take the saucepan away from the heat and whisk until the mixture is thicker and smooth and glossy. Pour into a glass bowl and leave to cool for a little (half an hour is plenty).

To decorate: Spoon the mixture over your cupcakes, but don’t try and make it too perfect – the cupcakes look better when the sponge is not perfectly covered and the ganache is allowed to drip down over the sides.

The Clandestine Cake Club members may not allow cupcakes – but there is nothing ‘fairy-cake-like’ about these!

* Can I please just point out that I can’t actually confirm any similarity between dogging and clandestine food-oriented clubs, having never attended a clandestine meeting of any kind. There are other blogs about those hobbies, I’m sure!